Parental rights are fundamental, protected by the Florida Constitution, and thus are not easily relinquished. In fact, there are very limited instances in which a parent may give up their parental rights voluntarily. Sometimes we are asked whether giving up parental rights would result in eliminating the responsibility for supporting a child, and while the […]
Duke v. Duke
In Duke vs. Duke, The trial court erred on the face of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage (no trial transcript was provided, so only errors appearing on the face of the order could be remedied): 1) Alimony: In awarding alimony, the court failed to impute income to the wife based upon income that […]
Do Fathers Have The Same Parental Rights As Mothers?
The answer to this question is not a simple one and can vary depending on the facts, as well as which statute you are focusing on. For the purposes of this article, the focus will be on a man’s parental rights under Florida Statute 744, and how it differs generally from Florida Statutes 61 and […]
How Can We Prevent The State From Terminating Our Parental Custody Rights To Our Children?
So, DCF has begun proceedings to terminate your parental rights (TPR) because of alleged egregious abuse, neglect or abandonment. If you have previously been granted a case plan, and you simply did not previously follow it, you have the opportunity to delay the TPR by making an honest effort to comply with the case plan. […]
Father’s Rights In Florida Custody Cases
What are the rights of fathers who are not on the child’s birth certificate? What are the rights of fathers to attend pre-natal doctor appointments for the mother and unborn child? What are the rights of non-biological fathers? What are the rights of expectant fathers? These are all very typical questions that we encounter every […]
How Can I Allow My Mother To Have Guardianship Of My Child Without Losing My Parental Rights?
As a parent, and subject to the consent of the other parent (if there is another legal parent present), placement of your child with another is completely within your discretion. So, if you want your child to live with, and be cared for by, any other person, you are to make that decision. It […]
What Are Grandparents’ Custody and Visitation Rights In Florida?
Grandparents have the right to be judicially granted visitation with their grandchildren, but only under limited circumstances. When children have been removed from their parents’ home due to abuse, neglect or abandonment, the court may provide grandparents visitation under Chapter 39. Also, a grandparent of a minor child whose parents are deceased, missing, or in […]
What Are My Chances of Getting 50/50 Custody Of My Child In Florida?
While the courts are moving away from automatically assigning Father’s a weekend only relationship with their children, an equal timesharing schedule is not always easy to obtain. The Court must consider all of the factors in Florida Statute 61.13(3)(a-t) in order to determine the best timesharing schedule for the children. In some families, the parental […]
What is the average child support payment for two (2) children in Florida?
This question will likely have to be followed by a number of other questions before generating an accurate response. Although child support may be one of the more cut and dry areas of family law due to being governed by an actual hard and fast math calculation, the data that is placed into said calculation […]
What Do You Say To A Friend Who Is Going Through A Divorce?
So you have a friend about to embark on divorce in the State of Florida. Or maybe he just filed, and he is off and running down that difficult road. You are concerned about your friend, and you don’t know what to do. First, you should tell your friend, if he hasn’t done so already, […]